Autodek, Inc have announced they have acquired Tinkercad, the easy to use 3D design tool aimed at 3D printer enthusiasts. The development team recently announced that Tinkercad was to be shut-down so that they could concentrate on Airstone, an interactive simulation environment product.

Co-founded by Kai Backman and Mikko Mononen, Tinkercad will be consumed into the 123D family of Autodesk’s products. Development of Tinkercad will continue by Autodesk’s programmers, which frees up Backman’s team to develop Airstone.

“We are excited to have reached an agreement with Autodesk that will provide a solid home and bright future for Tinkercad,” stated Backman. “We found in Autodesk a shared vision for empowering students, makers and designers with accessible and easy to use software, and with their global reach and expertise in democratizing design, we’re confident in their ability to introduce Tinkercad to new audiences around the world.”

Autodesk made the acquisition announcement at the Maker Faire event last Saturday and stated that the Tinkercad service will re-start immediately. Users are now able to create new accounts and will now include unlimited designs, support for imports/exports and more powerful shaping tools in the free version of the software.